Patrick Beverley, according to Doc Rivers, is “unstat-able,” and guest Tomer Azarly agrees (FrenchieInPortland/Creative Commons).

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Tomer Azarly of Clutch Points goes in depth and breadth on the special 2018-19 Clippers team that has exceeded expectations despite significant player turnover. The Clippers are back in the playoffs, but whom should they hope to avoid in the first round? Tomer also touches upon what’s made the Clippers so effective, including super-subs Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, “unstat-able” Pat Beverley, Landry Shamet’s outside shot, reinvigorated coaching from Doc Rivers, clutch play and more. Obviously, the discussion closes with some Kawhi Leonard talk. Enjoy some noteworthy clips/Clips (*Due to dynamic advertising, excerpt time stamps may vary per listener):

10:30-11:15: “That [loss to the Lakers] complicates things a bit more, because they could certainly fall to the 8 seed and see the Warriors in the first round. I think right now Portland is probably the matchup they want to see…The Rockets, I think, are a matchup they really, really do not want to see…James Harden is in the midst of the greatest scoring season I’ve ever seen…The Denver Nuggets pose an interesting threat, but I think their lack of experience, and we’ve seen over the last couple weeks where they’ve struggled to sort of have consistency on both ends of the floor. We’ve seen Nikola Jokic’s lack of patience with the officials. Teams are really going at him and Jamal Murray in the pick and roll, which I think is a very exploitable scenario for the Clippers.”

16:30-17:08: “In speaking to some players, there was that two-day gap between when Tobias was traded and when they made the Avery Bradley trade and the Ivica Zubac trade. And over that two-day period, it was very weird in that they [the players] were just like us. They didn’t know, ‘Hey, are we tanking? Are we trying to make the playoffs? What is our endgame here, because we just got picks from Philly, we just got a young guy in Shamet, Wilson Chandler, those guys?’ And so once they made the trade, especially for Ivica Zubac, once they got solid role players in JaMychal Green and Garrett Temple, solid role players, solid veterans who have played the game for a while, I think it wasn’t that hard for them to put it together.”

22:08-22:50: “A lot has been made about his coaching being impressive more than years past, but when you lack that superstar, I think the team aspect of the game and the X’s and O’s show up just a little bit more. When you have a Chris Paul, when you have a Blake Griffin, you can throw them the ball and say, ‘Hey, get me a basket. Make something happen,’ and a lot of it is those guys wanting to do that as well. Whereas now, other than Lou and Gallinari, you really have to have a set offense and run plays and try to make things happen in the pick and roll. And that’s not even talking defensively, where the Clippers have really improved since the trade deadline.”

29:19-30:32: “Doc Rivers likes to call him [Patrick Beverley] ‘unstat-able,’ because there is no stat to define how important he is to your team. He holds guys accountable, he holds himself accountable, and he’s also very open to listening as well. Just his impact defensively…No offense to the Lakers, but if Patrick Beverley plays last night, I don’t think the Clippers lose that game because he’s just so locked in for all 48 minutes, and he holds guys accountable essentially every play…Doc Rivers earlier in the year touched on how he didn’t like sometimes that Beverley sort of gambled a little too often…but that’s just part of who he is. That’s who he is, and that’s what makes him special and ‘unstat-able,’ which is what the Clippers love.”

42:08-42:55: “I don’t think you can just pencil a guy like Kawhi Leonard in despite what Clippers fans have been doing. I do think that these playoffs will tell us a lot. For example, if the Raptors suffer some kind of surprising first-round exit, that could weigh heavily on what Kawhi wants to do. If they win a championship, that could weigh heavily on what Kawhi wants to do. I think all signs are pointing to it, just because, as we’ve seen, he doesn’t want to be the face of the biggest franchise, like the Lakers. So he’d be fine being the face of the Clippers, sort of the secondary team in LA, but one that really has a direction and is building some respectability. It’d be close to home.”

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Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod.